goilerplate vs supastarter vs ShipFast: an honest 2026 comparison
A side-by-side comparison of goilerplate, supastarter, and ShipFast. Stack, price, hosting cost, and which SaaS boilerplate is right for your next launch.
If you have been shopping for a SaaS boilerplate recently, you have probably ended up on the same three or four landing pages I have: ShipFast, supastarter, Makerkit, and now goilerplate.
Each one promises to save you weeks of setup, each one has a different stack and price tag, and each one is opinionated in its own way. This post is the honest side-by-side. No affiliate links and no “this one is best, click here”, just the trade-offs so you can pick the right one for you.
TL;DR
| goilerplate | supastarter | ShipFast | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stack | Go, templ, HTMX, Tailwind | Next.js (Nuxt, SvelteKit variants), React, Tailwind | Next.js, React, Tailwind |
| Language | Go | TypeScript | JavaScript or TypeScript |
| Auth | Magic links, Google + GitHub OAuth, password reset | better-auth | NextAuth |
| Payments | Polar + Stripe (more providers coming) | Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, Dodo | Stripe, LemonSqueezy |
| Database | SQLite or Postgres | Postgres (Supabase/Neon) | MongoDB or Supabase |
| Hosting | Any VPS, ~$5/mo | Vercel + Supabase, $25-60/mo | Vercel, $20-50/mo |
| Deploy | Single binary | Node.js bundle | Node.js bundle |
| Blog and docs | Markdown, built-in | Markdown, built-in | Limited |
| Teams / multi-tenant | not yet | yes, full | not yet |
| i18n | not yet | yes | not yet |
| Price | $99 to $399 launch (reg $199 to $799) | €299 to €499 | $199 to $299 |
| Best for | Go devs leaving the JS ecosystem | Next.js teams, B2B with workspaces | Solo founders who love JS |
These are three different bets, not three contestants for the same prize. Pick the one that matches the bet you are making. The rest of this post is the long version of that table.
Round 1: the stack
goilerplate
goilerplate is built on a stack that does not require JavaScript except for a 14 KB HTMX file.
- Go on the backend.
- templ for type-safe HTML templates.
- HTMX for interactivity.
- TailwindCSS and templUI for styling and components.
- SQLite by default. Production-ready for the vast majority of SaaS, especially paired with baselite.io, my own service for automated SQLite backups and a multi-database workspace. Postgres when you actually need it.
The result is a single Go binary plus a Dockerfile. Deploy it however your hosting wants: Docker image to Coolify, Dokploy, or Fly.io, or plain systemd on a $5 VPS. No node_modules anywhere in the repo (the Tailwind CLI ships as a standalone binary). No npm install in the build or deploy pipeline. See why I built it on this stack for the longer story.
supastarter
supastarter is built on Next.js with optional Nuxt and SvelteKit variants by Jonathan Wilke. The “core” stack:
- Next.js (App Router), with separate Nuxt and SvelteKit variants.
- React 19, TypeScript.
- better-auth as the auth layer.
- Drizzle or Prisma for the database.
- Postgres on Supabase or Neon.
- Tailwind plus shadcn/ui.
- Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, or Dodo for payments.
- Multi-tenancy with organizations and teams.
It is a serious kit. The codebase is huge (think hundreds of files), and it ships a sophisticated team and billing model out of the box. If you are building B2B SaaS with workspaces, supastarter saves you real weeks.
ShipFast
ShipFast is the indie classic. The original “ship in 5 minutes” boilerplate, born from Marc Lou’s stable of micro-SaaS products. His shipping cadence on X is its own marketing class.
- Next.js (App Router or Pages Router).
- JavaScript or TypeScript.
- NextAuth for authentication.
- MongoDB or Supabase.
- Tailwind plus DaisyUI.
- Stripe or LemonSqueezy.
- Resend or Mailgun for email.
ShipFast is smaller than supastarter. The philosophy is “as little as possible, as fast as possible.” For micro-SaaS and content-driven products, it is hard to beat.
Round 2: developer experience
goilerplate
Day one developer experience:
git clone goilerplate
cd goilerplate
task dev
That command starts the Go server, the templ watcher, and the Tailwind watcher in one terminal. Save a .templ file, the browser updates. Save a Go file, the server restarts in under a second. Save a CSS file, Tailwind regenerates.
Editor support: VS Code, GoLand, or Neovim with the templ extension gives you autocomplete, jump-to-definition, and inline errors. Compile errors light up red before you save. (I use Neovim btw.)
What you give up: the React DevTools, the Next.js DevTools, the Vercel preview deploys, and the ecosystem of “drop in this React component and it works.” If you are deep in React-world, that ecosystem is real.
supastarter
Day one with supastarter:
git clone supastarter
cd supastarter
pnpm install
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm dev
Beautiful Next.js DX. Hot module reload is instant. The codebase is well-organized into packages (auth, billing, mail, db). The admin UI is polished. The team and billing flows are thoughtful.
What you give up: simplicity. There is a learning curve to understand which package owns what. Some things require touching three files in three packages.
ShipFast
ShipFast feels like a single guy’s boilerplate, because it was. That is a strength. The whole codebase is something you can read in an afternoon. Everything lives where you expect it.
What you give up: structure for large teams. If you grow past three engineers, ShipFast starts to feel cramped. supastarter scales better with team size.
Round 3: features out of the box
| Feature | goilerplate | supastarter | ShipFast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic-link auth | yes | yes | yes |
| OAuth (Google, GitHub) | yes | yes | yes |
| Password reset flow | yes | yes | yes |
| Billing | Polar or Stripe (more providers coming) | Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, Dodo | Stripe, LemonSqueezy |
| Teams and organizations | not yet | yes | not yet |
| Multi-tenancy | not yet | yes | not yet |
| i18n | not yet | yes | not yet |
| Blog | yes, markdown | yes | yes |
| Docs | yes, full sidebar | yes | basic |
| SEO (sitemap, robots, JSON-LD) | yes | yes | yes |
| Newsletter capture | yes | yes | yes |
| Email templates | yes | yes | yes |
| File uploads to S3 | yes | yes | yes |
| Dark mode | yes | yes | yes |
| Component library | templUI | shadcn/ui | DaisyUI |
If you need teams, multi-tenancy, or i18n out of the box right now, supastarter is the only one of the three that ships them today. The others can be extended, but you will build that yourself. Be honest with yourself about whether you need them on day one. (Multi-tenancy with organizations and roles is coming soon to goilerplate.)
Round 4: hosting cost
Here is where the stacks diverge dramatically.
goilerplate hosting
The default deploy target is “any Linux server with port 443.” Realistic monthly costs:
- Hetzner CX22 (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM): around 4 EUR
- Hetzner CAX11 (ARM, even cheaper): around 4 EUR
- DigitalOcean droplet: $4 to $6
- Vultr, Linode, Hostinger VPS, Contabo: same range
- Cloudflare R2 for files: $0 to $5
- SQLite (free) or Hetzner managed Postgres: $0 to $10
Total for 1000 users: $5 to $15 per month.
The real flex: a Go binary uses 10 to 40 MB of RAM at idle. You can run a dozen goilerplate-powered SaaS products on a single $5 Hetzner or DigitalOcean box without breaking a sweat. Pair it with Coolify or Dokploy (I use Dokploy) and you get a self-hosted Vercel-style dashboard managing all of them from one place. Push to GitHub, watch it deploy, zero-downtime swap, done. Indie hacker portfolio plays become economically obvious at this price point.
supastarter hosting
Default: Vercel + Supabase or Neon.
- Vercel Pro: $20 per user per month minimum, plus usage.
- Supabase: $25 per month for Pro tier, or free until you outgrow it.
- Cloudflare R2 or S3 for files: $5.
Total for 1000 users: $25 to $60 per month, more if traffic spikes.
You can self-host Next.js to reduce this. It is possible. It is not as polished as the Vercel path.
ShipFast hosting
Same picture as supastarter. Vercel-first, with self-host as an asterisk. Plan on $20 to $50 per month.
For a bootstrapped founder, the cost difference is meaningful. Six months of hosting savings on goilerplate covers the entire license. For the full hour-by-hour and dollar math, see boilerplate saves you 200 hours.
Round 5: pricing
Prices change, so check the landing pages, but as of mid-2026:
- goilerplate has three tiers, currently at 50% off launch pricing: Single
$199$99, Team$399$199 (up to 5 devs), Enterprise$799$399 (up to 25 devs). One-time payment, lifetime updates, full source. - supastarter starts around €299 for a single product, €499 for unlimited. Lifetime updates.
- ShipFast starts around $199 for the basic plan, $299 for the pro plan with extras.
All three are one-time payments with lifetime updates. The pricing is roughly comparable on the surface. The real difference is what stack you commit to maintaining for the next five years.
Round 6: long-term maintenance
A boilerplate is not just what you buy on day one. It is what you maintain for the next five years.
goilerplate
Go is stable. The standard library does not break. A Go program from 2015 compiles today. Tailwind v4 to v5 is the only “framework upgrade” you will likely face in the next two years.
When you need to upgrade goilerplate, you read the changelog, pull the new files you want, and resolve a small handful of conflicts. The codebase is small, so the diff is small.
supastarter
Next.js releases a major version roughly every six months. Each one has migration notes. The App Router and Server Components reshuffled the mental model. The next reshuffle is always around the corner. supastarter team does a good job of keeping up, but you will be doing migrations.
The Drizzle and Prisma teams ship breaking changes regularly. better-auth is younger than NextAuth and has had API churn. The whole npm supply chain sits underneath all of that as a separate ongoing concern.
This is not a deal-breaker. It is the JavaScript tax.
ShipFast
Same picture as supastarter. The smaller codebase makes upgrades easier, but you are still on the Next.js upgrade treadmill.
When goilerplate is NOT for you
I would rather you buy the right tool than buy mine. goilerplate is the wrong choice if:
- You need multi-tenancy with organizations and teams on day one. supastarter is built for this. goilerplate is not, yet.
- You need internationalization out of the box. supastarter ships i18n. goilerplate does not, yet.
- You want a polished prebuilt admin UI for managing customers, subscriptions, and feature flags. supastarter is ahead here.
- Your team is React-native and you will not ship product if you have to learn Go. Stay on the JS side.
- You want a giant React component ecosystem to drop into your app. shadcn/ui plus the broader React world is bigger than templUI.
If any of those is a hard requirement on day one, pick supastarter or ShipFast. The right tool for the bet you are making.
That said, the gaps above are not abandoned. I ship into goilerplate every week, driven by what I need for my own products and by what customers ask for. Multi-tenancy with organizations and roles is coming soon. i18n is on the roadmap after that. Lifetime updates means every fix and every new block lands in your copy too. The codebase grows with the customer base, not against it.
Who should pick what
After all that, here is my honest recommendation.
Pick goilerplate if you are a Go developer, or a curious JavaScript developer who wants out of the npm ecosystem. You are bootstrapping. You care about hosting cost. You want a single-binary deploy. You like the idea of writing the same language top to bottom. You are building a focused product, not a multi-team B2B platform. If you are already on Next.js and want a migration path, start here.
Pick supastarter if you are building a serious B2B SaaS with workspaces, teams, and seats. You need internationalization. You want a polished admin UI from day one. You are comfortable on Next.js and willing to pay Vercel-class hosting bills. You may hire a small team.
Pick ShipFast if you are a micro-SaaS founder who likes JavaScript, wants to ship a focused content or tool product, and prefers a small codebase you can read end-to-end. You will live on Vercel and that is fine with you.
If you have not decided whether you even need a boilerplate, this post is the prerequisite.
There is no wrong answer. There is the right answer for you.
Where to look next
- See goilerplate in action: demo and docs.
- Browse the goilerplate blog for deeper stack write-ups.
- Compare pricing on the home page.
If you have shipped on any of these and want to share your numbers (hosting cost, time to launch, conversion), I want to hear from you. The indie SaaS world gets better when we share data.